Google Job Candidate Killed in Oakland

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A man from Fairfax, Va., who was in the Bay Area for a job interview at Google was shot and killed in downtown Oakland late Sunday night, police said.

Patrol officers were dispatched to the 1900 block of Webster Street at about 11:30 p.m. after police received reports of gunshots and people seen running toward 20th Street.

The officers arrived and found the victim, identified by police as 45-year-old Jinghong Kang, had been shot at least once. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Kang had a job interview scheduled Monday at Mountain View-based Google and was staying on the Peninsula, police spokesman Officer Jeff Thomason said.

He had visited Oakland to have his teeth cleaned by a female friend who works as a dental hygienist, Thomason said.

Kang and his friend were walking back to his rental car from the dental office so she could help him program directions into his GPS device when two men approached them and demanded money, Thomason said.

Both victims were pushed to the ground, and the woman heard gunshots, Thomason said. The men then fled without taking anything, and the woman realized her friend had been shot.

Google today released a brief statement in response to the shooting.

"We were saddened to hear about the death of Jing Kang," the statement read. "Our hearts go out to his family in this difficult time."

Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call the Police Department's homicide section at 510-238-3821.